Professor Michel Armand

Michel Armand, born in France (1946), graduated from École Normal Supérieure in Saint-Cloud (rank 1st); Master in inorganic and organic chemistry (Paris 1968); Fullbright Fellow at Stanford University in 1970-1 in the Materials Science and Engineering Department headed by Robert Huggins in 1971-2. PhD in Physics (1978); Invited Professor at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (1982-83). Directeur de Recherche at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 1989-95. Professor at the University of Montreal (Canada) (1995-2004). Director of the Joint CNRS-UdM International Laboratory on Electroactive Materials (2000-2004).

After his stay at Stanford University in 1972, he started doctoral research on intercalation compounds for solid-state batteries at the Laboratoire d’ Ionique des Solides (Grenoble). In 1972, Michel Armand attended the NATO conference on Fast Ion Transport in Solids in Belgirate, where he presented a new family of interstitial compounds derived from graphite as promising candidates for solid-state electrode materials. His and Brian Steele’s papers were the starting point of a booming activity on intercalation chemistry during the 70s, and also during these years his first patent applications were filed (e.g.: EP0013199B1, EP0020210B1).

In 1974 Michel Armand joined the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), where he spent his whole French career (starting as a Research Associate up to Director of Research) until he became Professor of Chemistry at the Université de Montréal (Canada) in 1995.

During the 70s, Michel Armand turned his attention to polymers because soft electrolytes would be preferable to hard ceramic materials as intercalation compounds used in electrodes. He selected polyethylene oxide (PEO) after Peter V. Wright had shown in 1975 that it is a host for several salts.

Prof. Armand established the electrical properties of the polymer-salt complex formed with lithium and pointed out that this material would be helpful for batteries at the Second International Meeting on Solid Electrolytes held in St Andrews, 1978 (M.B. Armand, J.M. Chabagno and M. Duclot, in Second International Meeting on Solid Electrolytes, St Andrews, Scotland, 20-22 Sept. 1978, Extended Abstract; M.B. Armand, J.M. Chabagno and M. Duclot, „Poly-ethers as solid electrolytes”, in P. Vashitshta, J.N. Mundy, G.K. Shenoy, Fast ion Transport in Solids. Electrodes and Electrolytes, North Holland Publishers, Amsterdam, 1979). The activity of those two years (1978-1979) was also accompanied by the deposit of 5 patent applications.

The first electric and hybrid cars powered by an all-solid-state polymer battery were available for test drives at the 17th EV International Symposium in Montréal in 2000. Designing a lithium-polymer battery for making competitive electric vehicles remains Michel Armand’s main objective, his „dream”. His research efforts, accompanied by a solid protection strategy, with more than 60 patent applications filed by that year, owed him many academic honors and awards contributed also to bridging the communities of organic and inorganic chemists to elucidate the conductivity mechanisms in polymers. Thus, his research style is a clear example of the hybridization of fundamental and applied interests of materials science and engineering.

Michel Armand has covered during his career several theoretical concepts and practical applications in the field of energy-related electrochemistry, such as new electrode materials, inorganic or organic (e.g.: EP0119912B1, EP0165827B1), working together with Prof. John B Goodenough being co-inventors of the patent family “Cathode materials for secondary (rechargeable) lithium batteries” (EP0904607B1, US6514640B1).

He also ushered the concept of intercalation compounds, the sulfur/sulfide redox couple and proposed the use of polymer-based electrolytes for battery applications and new families of highly conductive salts (perfluoroimides like TFSI and FSI or Hückel-stabilised negative charges; e.g.: EP0096629B1, EP0419647B1) for liquid and polymer electrolytes.

More recently, the use of such anions has resulted in significant advances in the field of ionic liquids. Present activities include the study and optimization of the production of carbon-coated Lithium-Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4); new solvating polymers and techniques to obtain cross-linked networks and stopping anion mobility; organic electrode materials like polyquinones and the discovery of electro activity a low voltage in aromatic dicarboxylates. This broad and varied research activity is also reflected in his extensive list of patents in the field.

Michel Armand, with an h index of 93 and more than 67.000 citations, is the author or co-author of 112 patent families, 538 scientific publications and 295 conferences. This vast activity has resulted in the following distinctions and awards:

  • Médaille de Bronze C.N.R.S. (Bronze Medal) (1978).
  • Royal Society, Faraday Division, Medal Award (1985).
  • Médaille Blondel, Société des Electriciens et Electroniciens (1987).
  • Preis fur Umweltteknologie Saarland Länder (Environment Technologies Prize awarded by the Government of the Saar – Germany) (1988). 
  • Battery Division Award The Electrochemical Society USA, October (1988).
  • Prix Bardy / Comité des Arts Chimiques (Chemical Arts Commission).
  • Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale (Society for the Fostering of National Industry) (1989). 
  • Médaille d’Argent CNRS (Silver Medal) (1989).
  • Prix Yvan Puech de l’Académie des Sciences (1989).
  • Pergamon Gold Medal (International Society for Electrochemistry, ISE Xiamen China (1995).
  • Volta Medal (most significant contribution in electrochemistry; European Electrochemical Society) (2000). First recipient.
  • Hawaii Battery Association Award –IBA (2003).
  • Doctorate Honoris Causa, Uppsala University Sweden (2006).
  • Galileo Award for Polymer Electrolytes Research University of Padua (2010).
  • Senior International Scientist, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2011).
  • Consultant Professor, Huazong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan (2011).
  • Prix Aymé Poirson de l’Académie des Sciences (2012).
  • Catalán-Sabatier 2012 award, Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (2012).
  • OREBA conference in honour of Michel Armand. Montréal June 25-28, (2014).
  • The International Battery Association’s Medal of Excellence (2016).
  • Doctorate Honoris Causa, Deakin University (Australia) (2016).
  • Highly Cited Researchers Stanford University’s ranking (2019).
  • Highly Cited Researchers. Ranking Clarivate (2019).
  • Highly Cited Researchers Stanford University’s ranking (2020).
  • Highly Cited Researchers. Ranking Clarivate (2020).
  • JES Focus Issue on Challenges in Novel Electrolytes, Organic Materials, and Innovative Chemistries for Batteries, Electrochemical Society (2022).